This invention relates to distilling apparatus, and more particularly, to high efficiency alcohol stills.
The rise in the cost of energy, especially that of the petroleum products used to power internal combustion engines, has given impetus to research directed toward more efficient use of those energy sources available. An accepted method of conserving oil is to add ethyl alcohol (ethanol) to the gasoline used in internal combustion engines or to use alcohol alone to power such engines.
Ethanol is obtained by distilling the liquor produced by an alcoholic mash. The normal distilling process uses a substantial amount of energy to heat the mash, and it is quite desirable to enhance the efficiency of the process and thereby reduce the energy utilized in manufacturing the alcohol. Moreover, the enhancement of the efficiency of the distilling process is especially important where the energy to be utilized for heating is solar energy because the direct utilization of solar energy provides but a limited amount of heat for the distilling process.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a more efficient distilling process.
It is another object of this invention to provide a self-controlled arrangement for distilling alcohol which maintains the volume of liquid to be distilled, the temperature of the process, and the other variables of the process as close to optimum constants as possible.